Their angst was also driven by city council’s recent motion to change the city’s residential zoning rules to allow for the construction of more diverse forms of housing, such as duplexes and row houses, on a single plot without applying for a land-use re-designation.
More than 50 people gathered at South Glenmore Park on Saturday afternoon to rally against the city’s blanket rezoning policy and several development proposals that have been approved despite their opposition.
Most of the protesters were residents of Ward 11, which includes swathes of communities in Southwest Calgary.
Among them was Lesley Farrar, who was concerned about the redevelopment of a shopping plaza near Glenmore Landing that envisions six residential highrises on the edge of the marketplace, with a below-ground parkade and seven other multi-storey buildings that would also house commercial establishments.
Farrar said she is worried about the environmental impacts of the project. “These are fragile ecosystems with riparian lands,” she said. “They are bird migration corridors.
“I don’t feel like city council is listening to constituents at all.”
Farrar was joined by others in opposition to redevelopment projects in the neighbourhood.
Their angst was also driven by city council’s recent motion to change the city’s residential zoning rules to allow for the construction of more diverse forms of housing, such as duplexes and row houses, on a single plot without applying for a land-use re-designation. The rules also permit backyard and secondary suites.
The zoning regulations were revised in May after the city’s longest-ever public hearing, in which 736 Calgarians presented their views to council and more than 5,000 others sent written submissions. The hearing stretched for more than 100 hours, spread out over nearly three weeks.
More than two-thirds of presenters opposed the blanket rezoning policy, citing concerns over the effects on property values, the stress of densification on the city’s infrastructure and the capacity of schools in Calgary’s established neighbourhoods, among other concerns.
Proponents of the blanket rezoning policy argue the rules will improve housing affordability by injecting supply into a market strained by rising demand thanks to a record-level influx of newcomers from across the country and the globe.
However, Lisa Poole, who was present at the protest, said homeowners are finding several ways to circumvent the rules. Some are registering restrictive covenants on their properties — which would limit the land use of their homes — moving to newer neighbourhoods or supporting a legal challenge to the city’s policy change.
“People are very upset because you buy a house in a neighbourhood because you’re looking for a certain lifestyle, and for a lot of people, it’s where your kids can walk to the neighbourhood school — then they find out suddenly there’s not enough space,” said Poole, who also attended a city workshop on the new rules at Capitol Hill Community Association on Saturday morning.
The workshop was about broader proposed changes to the city’s zoning regulations, which include the recent modifications to residential land uses. For instance, under the new rules, housing would be divided into three zones: H1, H2 and H3, the first of which concerns the blanket rezoning bylaw. The remaining two address higher density housing.
Several concerns about the new change were brought up by residents, including schools that have reached full capacity, fewer parking spaces, the importance of preserving trees and the definition of public engagement, which a city staffer admitted the city lacked.
Also attending the event was Denys Robinson, a board member at Banff Trail Community Association, who favours the new zoning bylaws. Robinson argued the easing of such regulations is necessary to increase supply and, as a result, improve housing affordability.
Regarding people’s concern over the need for public input for low-density housing projects, Robinson posed a question, saying “which public?”
“There was a very specific subset of the public that was at the meeting today; it did not represent the Calgarians that I see on the C-train every day; it did not represent the Calgarians I see heading to the U of C. And I think we’ve set up these consultation processes in a way that privileges a certain group with a certain set of interests.
“You let markets and the people decide where it makes sense for them to live,” Robinson said, adding even if developers choose to build more luxury housing, the new supply allows people who can afford such homes to move into them, thus easing demand pressures on existing stock.
For instance, if a plot of land is designated for a mixed-use development, the potential profit from the land rises, and so does its value — which many cite as a limitation of market-based approaches to housing affordability.
Patricia Conway, another attendee of the city workshop, said she is also in favour of more housing while stressing on the word ‘affordable.’ She said she is skeptical of whether this rule will lead to a drop in house prices.
“Developers are building million-dollar duplexes, and when they build their tiny, close-together townhouses, they’re asking $600,000 and up for each of those — it’s not affordable,” she said
“This used to be a neighbourhood that students from U of C and SAIT could live in. They could afford, yes, a basement suite, but they could afford to be close to school, and now they can’t.”